Review: Silence

Writer-director Martin Scorsese’s passion project Silence – a labour of love since 1990 – possesses many of these qualities but above all, it is a test of physical and mental endurance that will be beyond the tolerance of most audiences.

Set in a beautifully rendered 17th century Japan, this sprawling sermon on faith and endurance of the human spirit is easy to admire for its technical precision and production design, but difficult to love for a lack of engagement with the characters.

The 161-minute running time is punishing and Scorsese’s script adopts a deliberately contemplative and pedestrian pace. The director has previously ruminated on matters of faith and dogma in The Last Temptation Of Christ and Kundun. Here, he muses on self-sacrifice through the eyes of a selfless man, whose pleas for a sign from his Lord are met with deafening silence. In 1640 Macao, Father Valignano (Ciaran Hinds) receives a letter which suggests that in Japan Father Ferreira (Liam Neeson) has publicly denounced God and surrendered his faith.

Young priests Sebastiao Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Francisco Garupe (Adam Driver), proteges of Ferreira, refuse to believe it and persuade Father Valignano to allow them to seek out their mentor.

On general release.